Nobuo Uematsu, the legendary composer for the Final Fantasy franchise, has revealed that he’s ‘probably’ never going to utilise generative AI in his line of work.
Speaking with JASRAC, Uematsu-san has said that he has never used AI to compose music and feels that there is a certain satisfaction that cannot be replicated by using such technology compared to doing it yourself. However, he did add that the application of AI could be useful in regards to swapping between tracks.
I’ve never used it, and I probably never will. I think there’s more satisfaction in something you’ve created yourself after some effort and struggle. Also, when people listen to music, part of their enjoyment comes from discovering the background of the person who made it, right? AI doesn’t have that kind of background.
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Beyond that, it’s probably spatial audio (binaural sound). Final Fantasy X already implemented the idea of spatial audio itself, but the question is how much users will demand it going forward. Another aspect is how smoothly the music that’s being played can be transitioned. That’s an area where AI might handle things well in the future.
Uematsu is a self-taught musician and joined Square in 1986 after meeting with Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise. He initially cut is teeth on titles such as King’s Knight and Alpha, and would go on to compose the soundtrack for the first Final Fantasy in 1987. He’s since gone on to work on the music for nearly all major Final Fantasy games, as well as working on the soundtracks for Blue Dragon, Lord of Vermilion, and Lost Odyssey among others.